The Insiders
by culture vulture
Summary: If Pony and the other greasers were the outsiders, then he must have considered the Socs to be the insiders. Cherry did say things were rough all over though. This is the story of the Valance family. Big thanks to whatcoloristhesky for help with this.
1. Chapter 1

She had known the moment she felt his warm breath on her neck as he attempted to snake a soda-drenched arm around her shoulders. She'd never forget the indefinable sensations that had overwhelmed her at that moment; a mixture of mortal fear and toe-curling pleasure. Maybe she'd even known it before then. Perhaps it was the startlingly bitter tone in his voice as he announced, "I'm never nice," and offered to buy her a coke. Although she thought it cliché, it could very well have even been the instant she laid eyes on him.

He'd been carrying on, talking dirty to get a rise out of her and Marcia. His drivel had been easy enough to ignore at first, but kicking his feet up on the back of her chair was crossing a line. She'd whipped around with every intention of telling the hood off, but had nearly choked on her gum at the sight of the guilty party.

She'd seen him at a few rodeos and bumming around outside the school, but she'd never really looked at him until that very moment. It was as if her heart had finally come alive after years of indolent leisure. Where a subtle numbness once rested, a stirring and awakening then occurred. Dallas Winston had invoked something potent from within her, and it wasn't an easy feat to quiet a power like that.

Cherry lay sprawled out dramatically across the sofa in her living room, trying to quell the unfamiliar emotions that had been brewing inside of her for days. Flushing a bit, she reflected on the night she'd spent with Bob after her run in with Dallas. Their fight earlier in the night over his liquid dinner was precisely the reason she and Marcia had found themselves seated in front of the most dangerously alluring JD in Tulsa.

It wasn't until later though, when they were being escorted home by a trio of greasers, that Bob and Randy had resurfaced, full of piss and vinegar and looking for a fight. Initially, Cherry agreed to abandoning her new acquaintances and reuniting with Bob to prevent a fight. By the time he'd walked her to the front door, though, the spark of desire she'd contracted from Winston had developed into a raging lust that practically screamed to be satisfied.

Bob had never managed to stir up any of these emotions himself and the profoundly hungry aching Cherry felt was quite obviously for Dallas, but as her passions rose and the aches deepened, she decided that Bob would make a suitable substitute. If anything, she'd kept him off the streets for the night.

Unfortunately, she was left unsatisfied by Bob's drunken attempt at foreplay and the result was this lingering sense of longing for something she hardly understood.

She heaved the next installment in a series of wholehearted sighs, convinced that there would never be an acceptable way to satisfy or suppress her frantic libido.

"Okay, I'll bite," her sister declared, strolling in from the front porch. "You've been bellyaching in here for twenty minutes now. What's wrong?"

Cherry rolled her eyes. There were a total of five girls in the Valance family, which meant that Cherry still had three sisters to consult before she'd ever resort to asking Zuzu for advice. At fifteen, she was the youngest of the Valance girls and, Cherry thought, the most ridiculous. Zuzu, whose given name was Susan, had recently discovered a great joy in horrifying her parents with her awful behavior and near constant string of inappropriate comments. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Valance spent enough time at home to do much to correct the situation, though.

Cherry assumed it to be because Zuzu was the youngest, but sometimes even she couldn't believe how bratty her sister could be. She had begun the ninth grade a few months before and had developed this new attitude shortly afterwards. Cherry didn't think high school agreed with Zuzu.

"Didn't Mother tell you to practice the piano?" Cherry asked to avoid answering her sister.

"Mother went to play bridge," Zuzu said boredly. She flopped into the oversized leather armchair, blowing her bangs out of her deep gray eyes as she did. "Besides, I hate that old thing."

"You hate anything that requires hard work and dedication," Georgiana pointed out as she wandered in from the kitchen with a handful of grapes.

Georgie, at eighteen, was used to being the most outrageous of the Valance girls—a title she'd worked hard to earn over the years. Georgie was quieter about breaking the rules than Zuzu, though, and tried not to call attention to her misdeeds. She'd once explained it to Cherry that trouble just had a way of finding her. Cherry thought she could understand how that could happen sometimes, but not as often as it seemed to happen to Georgie.

Despite how much discord seemed to surround her, Georgie had always been well liked. And up until a few months ago, she had been doing a good job of keeping her nose clean. Ever since Zuzu had first encroached upon her bad-girl territory, Georgie had been working overtime to secure her wayward position, though.

"At least I didn't drop out of college," Zuzu taunted and Georgie threw one of the grapes at her.

"You're not even old enough to go to college, genius."

Zuzu scooped the grape up off the floor and rocketed it back at Georgie. From the couch, Cherry groaned again as grapes wheeled through the air. She would have much preferred to have wallowed in peace.

"Why are there grapes down the hall?" Tess wondered aloud, ambling into the living room.

Tess, who was seventeen, was very peculiar, though mostly regarded as charming and amiable. Cherry figured it was easy for people to look past her eccentricities because of how beautiful she was. She shared the same flaxen hair as Zuzu and Georgie, but her wide, innocent eyes were the most delicate shade of cerulean Cherry had ever seen. Her given name was Theresa, but Cherry couldn't remember anyone ever having called her that. She'd always just been Tess.

She looked up, holding two grapes in each hand, and then held them out to Georgie.

"Did you drop these?" she asked absently.

Georgie snatched the fruit from Tess, only to hurl them all at once at Zuzu, who promptly returned fire. The battle continued until Cherry finally yelled for them to stop.

"What's eating you?" Georgie sounded wounded.

Cherry briefly considered consulting Georgie about the apparent curse Dallas Winston had cast upon her, but thought better of it when she noticed Zuzu waiting intently for her reply.

"She's been wailing pathetically in here all morning," Zuzu really laid it on thick, catching even Tess' interest. She was usually too absorbed in her own thoughts to contribute very much to casual conversations.

"I have not been _wailing_, Susan," Cherry snarled. "And it's only been twenty minutes, so stop it."

"Anyway," Zuzu talked over Cherry to Georgie and Tess, "she won't say what's wrong."

"Maybe there's a problem with the squad," Tess mused. She'd never been keen on sports herself, but found it fascinating that Cherry cheered.

"Or trouble in one of her classes," Georgie offered.

"If you want to know what I think—"Zuzu never finished her speculations because just then Cherry took a swing at her with a pillow. It connected with the side of her face, stunning her for a moment.

Georgie and Tess both blinked a few times, as if they couldn't believe Cherry had done something like that. Truthfully, Cherry wasn't sure what had come over her. That goddamn Dallas Winston. Everything had been upside down since she'd seen him.

"What'd you go and do that for?" Zuzu demanded, rubbing at the side of her head.

"I told you to stop," Cherry shrugged and Georgie started laughing.

"You really are in rare form, huh?" she clucked settling herself beside Cherry on the couch. "Lucky for you, I've got the perfect cure."

Cherry highly doubted that. She watched Georgie cleverly untucked a tiny silver flask from her dress and take a swig.

"Shots of rum aren't gonna help me any," Cherry pouted and Georgie widened her dancing green eyes.

"Good thing I'm a whiskey girl," she took another swig and passed it to Cherry. "The booze wasn't the cure I meant though."

Zuzu was staring greedily at the flask in Cherry's hand. She'd developed a recent habit of wanting to do everything Cherry did. Tess wasn't interested in the liquor; she'd much rather toke up any day. Cherry forced a mouthful of liquid down her throat and raised an eyebrow to her sister expectantly.

Georgie leaned forward to heighten Cherry's anticipation. "What would you say if I told you Alice was on her way home?"


	2. Chapter 2

The hopes and dreams of Mr. and Mrs. Valance had always rested on the shoulders of their first-born. Alice was well aware of this, and accepted her position with a graceful ease. Growing up, she had spent her summers learning equestrian, attending debutante balls and entertaining guests of equal social standing at the country club. However, the limited social activity in Tulsa soon became dissatisfying to the Valances. When the time came for Alice to attend college, it was decided for her that she should attend Wellesley back East, as her mother had done.

Mrs. Valance was hardly concerned with her daughter's education, though. Wellesley was nothing more than a holding cell, until Alice was able to secure a proposal for marriage from a suitable young man—preferably one that would benefit Mr. Valance's thriving enterprise. Nothing was of more importance to the Valances. Luckily, Alice always did as she was told.

It was for that very reason that Georgie never did. It had always irked her that Alice was so inclined to agree to her parents' every wish and only fueled her campaign against them. Georgie had only attended one society event in her young life, and she had made damn sure to guarantee that she would not be receiving any more such invitations.

However, Tess had allowed her mother to guide her through the ostentatious process of becoming a debutante, though she'd never shown too much interest or promise in polite society. Tired of her daughter's indifference, Mrs. Valance had relinquished her efforts with Tess and become refocused on recruiting one of her remaining two daughters to the upper crust lifestyle.

Since Zuzu had made it abundantly clear that she would be following in the footsteps of Georgie and Tess, Cherry had the honor of being her mother's last-ditch effort. Cherry, though strong in her resolve with most things, had been allowing her mother to organize her social calendar for the past two years.

Cherry found it difficult to deny her mother the only thing that had ever given her a noticeable amount of pleasure. Sure, the dry gin martinis and constant string of bridge games with the other socialites in Tulsa occupied her time, but Cherry knew those social obligations brought her mother no true enjoyment. The only tangible purpose in Mrs. Valance's life was in furthering those of her daughters.

Perhaps it was that simple understanding that Cherry shared with Alice that made them so close. Cherry knew that Alice made huge efforts to maintain a special closeness with all of her sisters, but Cherry—and everyone else—knew that she shared something more than just sisterly amity. Georgie tried to attribute their bond to the scarlet hair they shared.

"I s'pose you gingers have to stick together," She'd mutter. Georgie had always felt a bit slighted at the amount of attention Alice gave Cherry.

Yes, Alice had the undeniable ability to make you feel as if you were the single most important thing in her life when you had her attention. And it seemed to Cherry that people were always fighting for that interest. She was glad that, for the most part, Alice was primarily concerned with lavishing her sought after concentrations on her.

She wasn't sure if it was the whiskey, or the consolation of knowing her capable sister was en route, but Cherry felt a definite ease in the anxieties that had been plaguing her for days. She knew that, if anyone, Alice would know what to say to quiet the strange, screaming urges. Dallas Winston wasn't going to win that easily.

Georgie drained the remaining liquid from her flask and replaced it shamelessly in her cleavage. Glancing at her watch, she said, "We've got to get to the airport; her plane lands in thirty minutes. Daddy was supposed to fetch her from the airport, but there was some sort of emergency with one of the jobs he's been bidding on."

Mr. Valance owned one of the largest general contracting companies in the mid-West. He was currently in the process of bidding on several shopping malls as well as a highly prized contract with the city. This was wonderful for the Valance's monetary status, but had been keeping the ladies of the house away from their father for extended periods of time.

"Where has he gone now?" Cherry asked, stretching back out on the sofa. She was only half-interested at this point. Her father had gotten into the habit of regularly neglecting his paternal obligations and the girls had made the necessary adjustments towards becoming self-reliant.

"Toledo," Zuzu piped up, popping up on her knees. She was always eager to prove she was as well informed as her sisters.

Georgie ignored her, producing a smart-looking tin of French rolled cigarettes and offering them to her sisters.

"Mother doesn't like you to smoke in here," Cherry reminded Georgie, even though she knew a comment like that would only make her sister more inclined to light up.

Tess helped herself to one, but didn't bother to light it. Cherry smirked as she perched herself on the arm of a crème colored armchair and held it between her lips. Cherry wasn't sure if she'd ever understand what went on in Tess' head. Zuzu got bold for a moment, and reached out to help herself, but was met with a sharp slap on her tender hand from Georgie.

"I was thinking about taking the GT out cruising tonight;" Georgie announced, not missing a beat, "give Al a real welcome home. What do you think, Tess?"

Tess nodded, her cigarette bobbing. She and Georgie shared the same closeness that consumed Alice and Cherry and, as a result, hardly ever separated from her. It was only recently that Georgie had begun including Cherry in their outings, so it still caught her by surprise when Georgie extended the invitation to her as well.

She knew that her elder sisters indulged in liquor and other contraband that had gained a sudden popularity with others their age. All of the Valance girls had been subject to their mother's hypocritical lecturing on the subject of abstaining from such pleasures, but only Cherry and Alice had bought into it. Cherry had decided it better to heed her mother's warnings, if only to avoid ending up like her. She imagined Alice held the same views, though they'd never really discussed it.

It was easy for Cherry to condemn her friends and Bob for their binge drinking and other illegal activities, but she held no such power over Georgie and Tess. In fact, Cherry found herself more likely to be persuaded into participating in the consumption of booze and drugs when she was in the company of her sisters. Still, she found herself agreeing to spend the night cruising the strip with them, if only to be able to spend time with Alice, who never refused a night out on the town.

"Can I come?" Zuzu begged as her sisters slid into their shoes and sweaters.

"Isn't it almost your bedtime, little Zuzu?" Georgie teased, patting the youngest of them on the head. "Besides, someone's got to be home whenever mother decides to pour herself into bed."

Zuzu crossed her arms over her chest and resigned to complaining from the sofa. As awful as she'd become, Cherry couldn't help but feel a twinge of empathy for her. She knew all too well how it felt to be left behind and silently vowed to include Zuzu the next time she made plans.

However, there wasn't much time to sympathize with her younger sister before she was ushered out the door by Georgie, Tess trailing along after them.

"Why is Alice coming home, anyway?" Cherry asked as she climbed into the back seat. "Her break isn't until next week. Won't she miss her finals?"

Georgie turned in her seat, pausing to be sure she had Tess' attention as well. "That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" she posed. "Apparently Daddy sent for her."

Georgie left her sisters to mull over this new piece of information as she backed out of the driveway. It did cause some concern in Cherry to learn that her absentee father had deliberately called Alice away from her studies, but with him in Toledo, she knew there was no chance of getting any answers until his return and decided to put it from her mind. Besides, her head was full enough with thoughts of that Winston boy.


End file.
